When you want to quote any word directly ‘라고/이라고’ is used. 라고/이라고 is used to indicate that the preceding word is quoted exactly the same way ( 라고/이라고 are quotation Forms in the Korean language). It is used to quote directly when someone said certain words or phrases.
“quotation marks” around quoted sentences are used to show that we are quoting the text directly.
Certain verbs like ‘, 쓰다 (write), 묻다 (ask), 말하다 (to talk), 생각하다 (think), 하다 (do)/그러다(do so)’ follows usually after ‘-라고/이라고’.
Let’s look at some examples.
Koreans say this (“많이 드세요.” Enjoy the food.) before eating.
Then you can say,
한국 사람들은 밥 먹기 전에 (“많이 드세요.”) 라고 말해요. Koreans say “Enjoy the food” before eating.
Here, ‘”(“많이 드세요.”)”라고’ is a combination of the sentence “많이 드세요.” and ‘라고.’
Next example.
There is a “금연 (No Smoking)” sign in the hospital. Then you can use ‘이라고’ after “금연.” Then you can say,
병원에 “금연”이라고 적힌 표지판이 있어요. There’s a sign in the hospital that says “금연 (No Smoking)”.
‘금연’ and ‘이라고’ are combined and become ‘금연 이라고’.
라고/이라고 Conjugation
If the last letter of the word you want to quote has a consonant, use ‘-이라고.’ For example,, there is the final consonant in ‘연.’ of ‘금연’. Then ‘-이라고’ is used after that. So it becomes ‘“금연”이라고.’
Another example is ‘명상 중’. There is a final consonant in the last letter ‘중.’ Then ‘-이라고’ is used after that. So it becomes ‘”명상 중”이라고.’
If the last letter of the word you want to quote does not have a consonant, use ‘-라고.’ For example-
‘사랑해요’, has no final consonant in ‘요.’ So ‘-라고’ is used after that. Now it becomes ‘“사랑해요.”라고.’
There is no final consonant in ‘다.’ of ‘감사합니다’. So ‘-라고’ is used after that. So it becomes ‘”감사합니다.”라고.’
라고/ 이라고 하다
라고/ 이라고 하다 is used to say people call this/that. For example-
저는 ABC라고 합니다. I’m called ABC. / People call me ABC.
저는 ABC 라고 합니다. I’m called ABC. / People call me ABC. This is another way of saying 저는 ABC 입니다 (Im ABC.) when introducing myself.
이건 노트북 라고 합니다. This is called a notebook. / People call it a notebook. / For this, people say notebook.
라고/이라고 practice
How would you say it?
Someone said to me, “I like you and I love you.” 어떤 사람이 저한테 “좋아해요 그리고 사랑해요 ”라고 말했어요.
‘라고’ is added after “좋아해요.” and becomes “좋아해요 “라고’
student (학생) said to me, “Hello?”
학생이 나에게 “안녕?”이라고 했어요.
“안녕?” and ‘이라고’ are combined and become “안녕?”이라고
On New Year’s Day, we say “Happy New Year.” 설날에는 “새해 복 많이 받으세요.”라고 인사해요.
‘”새해 복 많이 받으세요.”라고’ is the combination of the sentence “새해 복 많이 받으세요.” and ‘라고’.’
After eating rice we have to say (밥 먹고 나서는) “잘 먹었습니다.”라고 말 해요. We say ‘잘 먹었습니다. (I really enjoyed the meal.)
‘라고.’ is added after “잘 먹었습니다.” and form 잘 먹었습니다 “라고”.
라고/이라고 Summary
‘라고/이라고‘ indicates that the preceding word is directly quoted.
when there is a final consonant on the last letter of the word you want to quote, use ‘-이라고.’ So, when you quote ‘금연’ directly, it becomes ‘”금연”이라고.’
when there is no final consonant on the last letter of the word you want to quote, use ‘-라고.’ So when you quote ‘사랑해요’ directly, it becomes ‘”사랑해요”라고.’ So 미안해 becomes 미안해 라고.
